College Men’s Basketball Final – #1 Virginia Wesleyan 63, Guilford 49

NORFOLK, Va. – Tre’ Ford scored a game-high 18 points in top-ranked Virginia Wesleyan College’s 63-49 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) men’s basketball victory over visiting Guilford College Saturday.

The Marlins (7-0, 3-0 ODAC), ranked first in this week’s D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll, drained six of their nine three-pointers in the decisive second half. Cameron Owens’ three with 11:29 left in the game capped a 13-0 run that included trifectas by Ford and D.J. Woodmore. The Quakers (5-2, 2-1 ODAC) answered with six straight points, but the Marlins reeled off nine straight to open a 50-34 edge with seven minutes to play. Woodmore and Chris Teasley buried threes during the second spurt.

Chris Astorga scored nine of his 13 points in the second half and Ford also had nine second-half points. Teasley shot three-of-five from long range and finished with 12 points. Woodmore added 10 markers and led Virginia Wesleyan with six rebounds, five assists and four steals. The Marlins hassled the Quakers into a season-high 23 turnovers, 13 in the second half, which led to 20 points for the hosts.

Guilford freshman Zeb Richardson (West Jefferson, N.C./Ashe County) paced the Quakers with 16 points, which matched his career high. He also had a personal-best nine rebounds. Teammate Jake Hopkins (Kernersville, N.C./East Forsyth) added 10 points and nine rebounds. Guilford outrebounded their hosts, 37-32.

Following time off for final exams, Guilford returns to action Dec. 15 against visiting North Carolina Wesleyan at 2:00 p.m.

Guilford vs Virginia Wesleyan
12/08/12 2:00 p.m. at Virginia Beach, Va. – Batten Center
At Virginia Beach, Va. – Batten Center

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN – 63
GUILFORD – 49

GUILFORD (5-2, 2-1 ODAC): RICHARDSON, Zeb 7-14 2-3 16; HOPKINS, Jake 5-5 0-0 10; PITTMAN, Josh 1-9 5-5 7; McCARTHY, Matt 2-9 0-0 6; FREEMAN, Will 2-4 0-0 4; TRACY, Travis 2-6 0-0 4; GIBBS, Kevin 0-1 2-2 2; STEVENSON, Ben 0-0 0-0 0; HINTON, Jarred 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-49 9-10 49.

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN (7-0, 3-0 ODAC): FORD, Tre’ 6-9 4-4 18; ASTORGA, Chris 4-13 4-6 13; TEASLEY, Chris 4-9 1-2 12; WOODMORE, DJ 4-10 0-0 10; OWENS, Cameron 2-4 1-2 6; MONTGOMERY, Greg 1-1 2-3 4; BATSON, Trent 0-5 0-0 0; NADY, Sedric 0-3 0-0 0; SMITH III, Will 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-56 12-17 63.

   Guilford......................   24   25  -   49
   Virginia Wesleyan.............   23   40  -   63

3-point goals–Guilford 2-11 (McCARTHY, Matt 2-6; PITTMAN, Josh 0-5), Virginia Wesleyan 9-29 (TEASLEY, Chris 3-5; WOODMORE, DJ 2-5; FORD, Tre’ 2-5; ASTORGA, Chris 1-7; OWENS, Cameron 1-2; BATSON, Trent 0-2; NADY, Sedric 0-2; SMITH III, Will 0-1).
Fouled out–Guilford-None, Virginia Wesleyan-None.
Rebounds–Guilford 37 (RICHARDSON, Zeb 9; HOPKINS, Jake 9), Virginia Wesleyan 32 (WOODMORE, DJ 6; BATSON, Trent 6).
Assists–Guilford 10 (PITTMAN, Josh 3), Virginia Wesleyan 13 (WOODMORE, DJ 5).
Total fouls–Guilford 16, Virginia Wesleyan 12.
Technical fouls–Guilford-None, Virginia Wesleyan-None.
Attendance-744

Virginia Wesleyan is ranked first in this week’s D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll